


Another Side

by Taylor_Devline



Series: falling is just another way to fly [2]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Excuse my stunkage at naming things, Gen, Language, Male-Female Friendship, Spoilers, and cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 13:04:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10899930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taylor_Devline/pseuds/Taylor_Devline
Summary: "I mean-" She starts, mouth pressed to a thin line as she gathers her thoughts. "Ryuji, I found my reason to keep fighting for what's right." Her hands clench tightly until her knuckles turn white, "Restraining myself isn't going to get me anywhere," She looks at the other two with fire in her eyes, head raised high and proud, "which is why I'm going to get stronger from now on!"The ex-runner grins back at her, feeling her determination leaking to him, "Yeah, and I guess I found somewhere to belong again.""In a zoo?""Mona." Ann warns and Morgana shrinks in her gaze.Ryuji laughs, "with you guys, I guess." He says between breaths. "The three of us, together."Three,three,three,it sounded so wrong inhishisherears, it makeshishisherheart clench.AU(Formerly titled The Lost)Revamp: 7th February 2018





	Another Side

**Author's Note:**

> Shorter than the other, and heavier dialogue.
> 
> DISCLAIMERS: I don't own anything related to Persona 5 all rights goes to Atlus.  
> Some of the dialogues are taken from the game to give a sense of where and when.
> 
> Revamp notes: Added about 7000 words, now packed with more scenes and actual character interaction and slight scene changes.  
> Summary why the revamp: There's a laptop now, i can write more without worrying losing everything i wrote in the last 5 hours. I lost my flipping notes and my style changed.

 

**11th April, Monday - Raining -**

_**Early Morning** _

 

**VII**

**The Chariot**

 

The car is already miles away from him by the time he catches up, then disappears around the corner.

 

"Damn it, screw that pervy teacher." Ryuji growls, foot stomping in anger, "Damn Kamoshida, does whatever the hell he wants-" he lets out a snarl- "who does he think he is, the king of the castle?"

 

And then someone repeats his words.

 

"Huh?" Ryuji blinks and turns his head towards the source of the sound, he scowls at the person, mouth already spouting accuses at him. "What do you want?" He puts up his best intimidating face, in case the guy has any funny ideas. "You going to rat me out to Kamoshida?" He spreads his feet, ready to dodge out of any attack. The guy looks fit enough to be fast, Ryuji learned through the hard way that fast people attack first.

 

The guy doesn't answer him immediately and remains silent, standing there half-drenched in water like a statue that nobody bothers to cover. He recognizes the same uniform he's wearing, but doesn’t recall ever seeing his face. Ryuji inches forward, placing his face up close to the guy's, he narrows his eyes. No wonder he can't remember him, it's nearly impossible to remember with such little distinguishable features on the tin, black hair and- can he even see with those things? He's sure glasses aren't suppose to reflect so much light like that. He's probably the type to blend in the crowd and get on with life. Ryuji narrows his eyes and opens his mouth to say-

 

"Slow as ever, Track Traitor!"

 

"No wonder every girl hates you!"

 

"Still a disappointment to dear old mommy I see?"

 

Ryuji snaps his head to his former teammates passing by, laughing and pointing at him. He growls, "I'll show you disappointment if you don't shut up!" He sprints after the three ex-teammates, rain soaking his bag and probably his book but that doesn't matter because no one talks Mom like that. Especially shitty ex-teammates like them.

 

**11th April, Monday - Raining -**

_**Morning** _

 

**I**

**The Magician**

 

Morgana begrudgingly sits on the cold stone floor of the dungeons, scowling at the Shadows guarding the cell door with high alert after his last attempt of escape. The last of his makeshift lockpicks pokes his neck uncomfortably under his scarf, he fakes a sullen expression, hoping his convincing acting could fool the guards to lax the security if he looks hopeless enough.

 

**"Intruder!"**

 

He jolts on his seat at the same time the Shadows in front of his cell door began yelling at the other Shadows running pass them, his ears caught screams and more yelling just beyond the hallway left of him. He fails to fight of a sudden shudder, sensing a great surge of power coming from the source of the commotion.

 

"A Persona awakening." He breathes out.

 

**"Hurry, the king needs our help!"**

 

The Shadows seem to have finally snapped out of their momentary reverie and dash off to join the others to defend their king, leaving Morgana alone with a wide opportunity to escape.

 

Morgana debates if he should chase the other User or escape the Palace first, but judging from the yelling and shouts he guesses whoever crash the party is drawing a lot of attention to themselves and probably are escaping as well. He picks the lock of the cell as easy as sweet, tasty sushi and runs through the oddly empty dungeons. Whoever they are they certainly make quite the ruckus if every guard on the floor leave their post. He whoops in relief when he sees an open window, he slips out and quickly opens a small tear through the Metaverse to travel to the real world.

 

He finds himself in his normal cat form at the mouth of an alley with his back faced to the school, that must be where the Palace is, he deducts. He silently trots to the group of vending machines besides the school and waits patiently for the Persona user pops in existence near where he appears.

 

A theif must be patient with their prey, watch until the right opportunity pops up, but Morgana is patient but he has his limits and doubts. So he paces at the spot, mind running a mile per second. What if the other Persona user didn't make it out? What if they don't know how to escape the Metaverse and he just deliberately left them to die? What if they were immediately recaptured and executed on sight?

 

Morgana almost, _almost_ misses the high school student with black hair being scolded by the Palace owner- a teacher, looking disheveled like he just escaped from a castle full of guards, if he didn't sense the last surges of power coming from him.

 

He runs towards the person but turns away at the last second when he sees someone guarding the school door, he curses and waits until the fellow human turns their body _just_ a bit to the left-

 

There!

 

He slips besides the guard and enters the school-

 

Morgana rears back, biting a cry of surprise when he almost plants face first to a leg of a student. He quickly darts under the vending machine, wedging himself between the cables and the wooden floor, he grimaces at the uncomfortable heat and he pops his head out of his hiding place, head craning around for the User. He curses, tail lashing behind him in agitation.

 

Damn it, and the energy is too faint or the User is concealing it subconsciously for him to track it.

 

At least he narrows it down to only male population, though he's a bit disappointed the user isn't a girl.

 

"Hey, get out of here!" Morgana yowls as a teacher picks him up at the end of his tail. The teacher shrugs off Morgana's weak attempts of escaping and shifts his hold at the scruff of his neck then proceeds to throw him out of the school grounds. "Damn cats." Morgana dodges the saliva flying at him and hisses at the spitter.

 

How rude.

 

**11th April , Monday - Clear -**

_**Lunchtime** _

 

**VI**

**The Lovers**

 

_"Is that him, the one with a criminal record?"_

_"I heard he hides a bunch of dangerous stuff in his bag."_

_"Don't look at him, he'll hurt you."_

_"You think he has a knife somewhere?"_

 

Ann blinks and stops in her tracks, raising an eyebrow at the groups of students whispering baseless rumors loudly among each other, she raises her other eyebrow at the absurdity of the rumors. Wonder who's the victim, she ponders.

 

"Oh, they're talking about the new transfer student," Shiho answers for her, she shifts her weight to the other leg, "He's supposed to be in your class, but I didn't see him-oh," Ann follows where Shiho points her finger at, it isn't that hard to guess who she is pointing, the student body is giving a quite wide berth to a tall boy who walks like no better than Ryuji. "I think that's him. Huh, wonder why he's late."

 

"yeah," Ann says, "I wonder why?"

 

Shiho hums and turns her head at Ann, head tilting slightly to the left. "Is something wrong?"

 

It's weird. "It's weird," She voices, "being at the other end of the rumors."

 

_"Isn't that Takamaki?"_

 

_"-you think I have a shot with her?"_

 

_"-hear the rumors? She's with Kamoshida-"_

 

Shiho shifts closer to her side and slowly edges her to move somewhere else, one hand gripping gently at her curled fist. "Don't let them bother you, Ann."

 

She scowls and hooks her arm around Shiho's, she proceeds to drag both of them to the nurse's office, "C'mon," she tilts her head up. "let's take care of that bruises of yours."

 

Shiho struggles weakly against her grip, a small smile on her lips. "It doesn't hurt that much, it's fine!"

 

Ann scoffs, "if I become more Japanese looking every time I hear you say that, I'll be eating sweets as much as I want."

 

"You mean you won't be a model, I thought you like being a model."

 

"But I'll be eating sweets, think about how much crepes I can eat in one day!"

 

Shiho laughs, and that's all that matters.

 

. . .

 

"Lies."

 

**11th April, Monday - Clear -**

_**After School** _

 

Ann quickly speeds up her walk to put distant between her and Kamoshida, her mind a frantic mess of excuses and lies, and she's running out of them. She knows she can't stall her problems any longer, or run away from them. Shiho needs that position and she can't be selfish, Shiho has done so much for her, she sometimes feel like she doesn't deserve her friendship at all.

 

This is the only thing she could do, she'll find a way to make them both happy someday.

 

She hopes.

 

**12th April, Tuesday - Raining -**

_**Morning** _

 

"Hey, new kid." Almost automatically, all eyes are on the new boy sitting behind her. 

 

Ann turns her body slightly to watch the new student shrink under the attention. The timid type then, she assumes and frowns when she couldn't get a good read om his face because of his glasses.

 

"The Greek philosopher Plato, divided the human soul into three parts. A soul is composed of appetite, spirit and what else?"

 

"Logic." He answered without hesitation.

 

"Correct, you knew that huh?" The overweight man turned away from the dark-haired boy, "Plato's teacher, Socrates once said that evil is born from ignorance. People who've been babied, thought that evil is due to individuality, can only become society's scum."

 

**12th April, Tuesday - Cloudy -**

_**After School** _

 

Ann pushes her way through the throng of students, half-hearted apologies and excuses tumble out of her mouth out of reflex, she ducks her head anytime she swears she saw a flash of anything resembling a white shirt, that earn her a few looks directed at her. She keeps her eyes trained on her prey, who is weaving around the crowd more gracefully like a dancer with that lousy posture of his than her more or less a bumbling blind moth during the day.

 

It's definitely a useful skill to have, she could avoid Kamoshida better with that. She wonders if she could wriggle out of his secrets. 

 

When the crowd finally disperse, she jumps at the chance to grab the guy on the shoulder, a triumph laugh escapes her lips. "Hey, you-"

 

"What?" A complete stranger looks back at her, one of his eyebrows raised. "Ta-Takamaki-san! Do you-do you need something?" He says in English. Ann could give him a brownie point for his fluency, but he still need to work that lousy accent of his.

 

She lets go his shoulder, a fake smile and a fake laugh on her lips. "Sorry, my bad," she says back in English as a subtle 'Fuck you'. "I thought you were someone else." She bids in Japanese and hurries to the gate because she's fishing looks and that means it's time to skedaddle.

 

Ann cranes her head around and scans the crowd before her, scowling after she realizes practically everyone looks the same, she groans as her neck starts to cramp. She sighs and walks among her peers to the Aoyama-Itchome station.

 

Stupid common black hair and his stupid crowd weaving magic powers.

 

**13th April, Wednesday - Cloudy -**

_**Afternoon** _

 

After an hour of walking and asking around she finally spots the new student sitting on a bench near the vending machines at the courtyard, a small hint of a frown on his face while holding a coke between his legs. Honestly, the only thing that helped her spot him is his lousy posture. She wonders if he have any back pains from slouching so much, or a hump when he hit eighty or something.

 

She stops in front of him, "hey," she calls him and he lifts his head slightly at her, "can I talk to you?"

 

. . .

 

Ann lets out a frustrated cry and points a finger angrily at Ryuji, "ugh, he's gone. You scared him away!"

 

Ryuji stomps his foot forward threateningly at her and scowls, "me?!" His hands curls to a fist, shaking at either side, debating whether he should keep them there or raise it with promise of violence like he usually do at every problem he comes across. He shoves his hands inside his pockets and kicks at stray dusts on the floor, grumbling while at it.

 

Ann knows he won't raise a fist at a women, while she and Ryuji don't see eye to eye anymore, she's still in terms with Sakamoto-san and she knows things.

 

He grunts and flops down on one of the bench. Ann keeps one eye trained on him while pretending to ignore him. "Why're you askin' people around for that kid?" He says and their eyes meet.

 

Ann looks away, finding the soda can balanced on the trash can interesting and huffs, "like you're any better, I saw you threatening members from the volleyball."

 

"I wasn't threatening them!" He challenges, he looks down along with his voice. "They're just a bunch of cowards." The rest of his words are lost and too quiet for her ears with chatter around them. Ann sighs, Ryuji would always do that when he's brooding-

 

Ann jumps at the rattling sound the bench made after Ryuji slams his fist angrily with a snarl. "I've had enough of that fuckin' sad excuse of a teacher."

 

She keeps forgetting how intense and quick to violence Ryuji is, she guesses it's one of his charm, if it fits anyone's type. Ann relaxes and blinks at his profound language, it's rare for the other blond to swear and she knows only who usually anger him so much. "You mean Kamoshida?" she says, carefully, because she knows it ticks him even at the mention of his name.

 

Ryuji looks at her sharply before snarling at her, both shoulders tense. "Yeah," he growls, "and you probably already know what I'm talking about since the bastard prolly' tells you everything he does and how he would beat up his students-"

 

"What?"

 

"Hey!"

 

Ann blinks and raises her eyebrow at Ryuji questioningly at the new voice, he mimics her actions. She narrows her eyes, "Who-"

 

"Yeah, you two! The beautiful blonde and the monkey!"

 

"Monkey?!" He shouts angrily, he jumps up from his seat and looks at her pointedly, expecting an answer. She gives him a shrug and he growls at their surroundings, "Who're you calling a monkey? Why don't you come out and face me like a man?!"

 

"Down here, idiot."

 

She would have laughed at the almost comical scene if she wasn't a part in the scene. If.

 

. . .

 

Ann stares at the talking cat- _a fucking talking cat_ incredulously while backing away slowly. "While this Metaverse and Personas are pretty interesting things and I would definitely love to hear more, but I have errands to do, so I'm just gonna go~"

 

"Yeah," Ryuji agrees and joins her slow escape from the talking cat, "y'know I think my mom's calling me-"

 

"Wait-but I- I'm telling you the truth!" The cat- _Morgana_ steps forward, tail raised and eyes wide, pleading. "This isn't a mirage, you know that. It's spring and _thirteen_ degrees." He stops his approach and sits on his haunches, he stares at both of them with wide, impossibly blue eyes, "hear me out, please?" Ann would call it- _him_ cute, but after he's behind bars and she's safe from any delusion inducing disease he carries. 

 

"Yeah, no." Ryuji says bluntly and Ann never dreams his rudeness would help her get out of a situation. "I'm not dealing with this shit." Ann nods and she joins Ryuji's wide steps, both eager to leave the cat and never talk about this to anyone-

 

"I know how to stop Kamoshida!" The cat blurts and the two blonds stop abruptly.

 

Ann glances at Ryuji, his head hangs low and mouth pulls to a snarl she looks lower and sees his fists clenched tightly by his sides. He growls and turns his head to shot a glare at the cat, "stop him? you're a cat, what the hell are you hoping you could do with a body like that?" He scoffs, "no one is saying shit and even with our help those shitty adults won't hear or believe shit from us." He blows through his nose, "nothing could stop that pervert bastard with just a couple of problem kids like us."

 

Morgana bristles and presses his mouth-snout-cat-mouth? to a thin line, "first; I'm not a cat, second; I was turned into a cat, third; You have me, it may look like nothing but I know and I _can_ help you, just not in this form or place." He licks a paw, suddenly and somehow ,for some reason looks smug. "Remember what I told you about Personas? Shadows are their opposite and Kamoshida has one in his Palace. If we could defeat him then he'll confess about everything, in the public, he'll even be willing to show evidence."

 

Ann narrows her eyes, "that sounds too good to be true."

 

"I know, ridiculously even, and this looks really like a delusion but it's not- just look at your phone, later, I don't know, but I'm not lying and it's true and possible and I could show you a way-"

 

Ann gasps

and Ryuji swears at the piercing rings of the school bell, signalling it's time to gather at class and they're both a bit late.

 

"Sorry, but I can't risk being late." Ryuji apologizes at her and turns to Morgana. "You better be real and tellin' the truth, or your face is gonna meet my fists." Ryuji then runs through the door leading inside the school.

 

Ann glances between where Ryuji disappears and Morgana who is busy gaping at the door, she swears when she spots a teacher and shots Morgana an apologetic look, "if you're really telling the truth then meet us back here, whatever, after school and don't get caught by a teacher."

 

**13th April, Wednesday - Cloudy -**

_**After School** _

 

**VII**

**The Chariot**

 

Ryuji sees Ann visibly drops her shoulder in disappointment, lips chewed and head hanged low. He shows his own frustration at the ground, it jolts his bad leg bud he doesn't really care right now.

 

They come back to the courtyard as soon as they were released from class and the cat is nowhere to be seen. A gaggle of students hang around the vending machines, some are holding a can of soda, oblivious to the one student is sitting on the bench with bandages and visible bruises on his leg.

 

Ryuji makes his way to the group and a hand grabs his shoulder, he glances at Ann over his shoulder. "What do you think you're doing?" She says with a tight face.

 

He scowls and shakes her hand from his shoulder, he turns his body to face her. "I want to see if that cat said was true, the one about the abuse."

 

She raises an eyebrow, "and you're planning to just walk up to them and ask?" She sighs, brow furrowed and head ducked low. "Ryuji, it's useless, we-you can't just expect them to-."

 

"What?" He cuts in, voice low and bordering on a growl. "Expect them to say piss off and it's none of your business?" He straightens his posture and easily towers over Ann. He feels his hand hovers on his left thigh, some things never left, he guesses. "I know, but I'm going to take every chance I get to bring that bastard down and actually  _help_  people."  _Unlike you with Shiho,_ goes unsaid. He looks at her expectantly, "can I count on you to ask the girls around?"

 

Ann stares at his eyes for a long moment before sighing, "alright, I'll help."  _For Shiho_ , "but don't expect any huge success."

 

He smiles and Ann is a little bit surprised at the rare gesture, "I know, but it wouldn't hurt to try."

 

. . .

 

"Proving he does physically abuses us. . .is meaningless." Mishima bits his lip, his hands hangs at either of his side, shaking. "The school, their parents, the principal. Everybody knows about it, they just don't care."

 

. . .

 

Ann hops on the table besides him, a hopeless look on her face. "How was your end?" She asks, kicking her legs in the air.

 

A breeze blows across the roof, ruffling their hair and bringing fresh spring air with it. Ryuji glowers at the floor in front of him, a scowl on his lips. "Freakin', every freakin' member were all spineless cowards." He taps his foot on the ground impatiently and kicks a stray chair in front of him, prompting a jump from Ann. "I'm freakin' sick of that bastard." 

 

Ann huffs and crosses her arms across her chest, "I told you it's useless, Kamoshida has too much influence over the school," she frowns, "Mishima said it himself, everyone knows but they're all too afraid to speak up." She sighs and picks up her bag from where it rests, "I'm going home."

 

"What?!" Ryuji shots up from his seat, the chair falls behind him with a loud clatter, drowning half of his shout. "You-you can't, you can't just give up like that!"

 

"Yes, I can, because we both know this is a waste of time," She doesn't bother to stop her stride or look at him, "I knew I shouldn't have listened to you, you're nothing but trouble."

 

"You-" He growls and stalks to Ann, he ignores her alarmed face and grips her shoulders, he makes sure his body blocks the door from her. "You're going to report this to Kamoshida are you?" Her shocked face says it all. Ryuji shots her glare and tighten his grips, "I knew it, you're just his petty, faithful, follow-"

 

"That's a lie!" She snaps and slaps away his hands with a surprisingly amount of strength, "I-"

 

"Then those rumors about me are lies too." He cuts her off. Ann looks at him with wide eyes and turns her body away from him, shoulder slump in defeat. "The rumors about you being a ditsy, weak girl aren't legit too, but you're provin' it true." He feels his hands clench into fists, "You're admitting defeat to that bastard and that means you're giving up on Shiho." Ann visibly flinches on her spot, he ignores it. "After everything she's done for you, you're gonna let her suffer like that, let her worry about you-"

 

"Stop it."

 

He doesn't stop, "-while she gets her ass kicked every time she gets near that bastard, and what if it gets-"

 

" _Shut up._ " Ann finally turns her body to him and her tear filled eyes makes Ryuji regrets what he had said. "You don't understand what we've been through, you don't-you can't just say I've given up." She wipes her eyes with her sleeves, "I-We've tried everything we could, I couldn't, this is only way I could help her because she's so nice and never tells me anything while she keeps her problems from me while I shoves mine at her face and smiles for me and sometimes I think I don't deserve her."

 

"It isn't."

 

She snaps her head up at him, "what, what are you talking about?"

 

Ryuji matches her stare with a determined look, "what you're doing isn't the only way. There's that cat and-and that Meraverse shit, change his distorted heart and get that bastard spit every shitty thing he did himself." He shoves his hands back inside his pockets, "this is your chance, another way, a better way to help Shiho."

 

She raises her head to look at him with slightly puffy eyes, "I-it's all a lie, Ryuji. Just some weird fever dream from desperate hopes, it's not real." She says quietly and his throats tighten at the look she gives him, "I'm sorry, but it was fun talking to you again," she trails off and goes through the door, "goodbye, Ryuji."

 

. . .

 

"Where's Lady Ann?" Morgana asks immediately after he shows himself. 

 

Ryuji roughly picks up the cat, a heated glare directed at that 'effin no-show, "she left because you're a no show cat, where the 'eff have you been?" He really wants to throw the cat of the roof and punch him, not in that order. One of the kinds of people he hates are those who gives empty promises, especially if they promised to someone he cares about. He thinks Mom wouldn't approve, but it's technically not animal abuse if said animal claims he's a human.

 

The cat's glare is replaced with an alarmed look, "we have to chase her, she's in danger!"

 

Stalling, ha, like that's gonna work. He growls and shakes the cat, prompting a yowl. "I asked a question, cat, and what do you mean she's in danger?"

 

Morgana hisses, paws clawing at the air in front of his face, "I've been tailing Kamoshida, you idiot. He's looking for Lady Ann and he's _pissed."_

 

That's not good, that's _not_ good at _all._ He drops the cat and backs up to look over the railing at the crowd below. He can't spot her blonde hair, he can't find Ann. With eyes widen in alarm, He looks at the cat with a slightly panicked look, "where did you last saw him?"

 

"At the gate, I didn't see Lady Ann leaving, but it won't be long till he chases her at the station."

 

"Right," Ryuji nods and drops his bag in front of the cat, "get in."

 

Morgana grimaces, "I hope there aren't any dirty socks, are there?"

 

"You wanna effin' go, cat?"

 

. . .

 

It's been so long since he runs this fast, he misses it.

 

He misses the wind blowing against his hair, brushing his face, his sweat; he misses the sound of his heart pounding loudly in his ears, his shoes slapping against the ground; he misses the thrill, the determination when he focuses his eyes in front of him; he misses moving forward-

 

-then his leg decides to mess up and his face ends up on the floor.

 

Ann immediately drops by his side fussing over him, completely forgot the reason why they were running around the station. Morgana pops his head out of his bag, looking like he's holding back a grimace. Ryuji thinks the fall might have jolted the cat or he's just glad he's able the breathe clean air again.

 

Ryuji picks his head up while nursing his sore face and a sorer pride, he can feel a stare on the back of his head already. He turns his head to the offender equipped with a fierce glare and rough words forming at the tip of his tongue, he stops himself at the last second, throat suddenly tight.

 

The stranger from that rainy day stares back at him with a blank look, a piece of paper held tightly in a shaking, curled fist. He turns away and leaves after their brief staring match, steps a bit staggering as if he's scared or something. What a weird guy, Ryuji thinks.

 

"What are you looking at?" Ann asks and follows his gaze, her blue eyes sweeping the area for something that already left.

 

"Should we get him to a hospital?" Morgana chimes in and somehow Ryuji could tell there's a smug look on his punch-able face."I think he hit his head pretty hard there."

 

Ryuji abruptly sits up, nearly hitting Ann with his shoulder in the process. "How you and me go one on one and let's see who'll end up in a hospital."

 

"Bring it!"

 

Ann sighs, "Ryuji you're literally challenging a cat to a fight."

 

"I'm not a cat!" Is Morgana's respond, then blanches for some reason.

 

Ann's phone blares to life and she fishes it out, she grimaces at the screen and lifts up the device to her ear.

 

. . .

 

"You, uh, wanna grab a drink. It's on me, I guess."

 

. . .

 

It's getting late, he realizes and grimaces. The sky's orange and the clock on the wall says he should be home hours ago, Mom is going to be worried sick if he's stretching it any longer. Ann's a bit more important though, and he hopes his reason would make Mom spare him a lecture. He'll bring her chocolates for just in case, also for repayment for that ramen last week.

 

Ryuji looks away, trying really hard to not look at her tearful eyes. "Sorry," He apologizes, voice a bit rough. Damn it he's not going to cry as well, he needs to be strong for her. "I should've been there for you."

 

"I'm sorry too," Ann sniffs and wipes her eyes with the paper towels they were given. "I should've been there for you when Kamoshida," she trails off and hangs her head low, hiding a guilt ridden face.

 

He feels his fists clench and shake, "yeah," He grounds out thought gritted teeth, he watches the ice melt inside the glass of water they ordered. It somehow reminds him helpless people drowning in a corrupted society, he hates this.

 

"It's no use wondering on what ifs and should'ves," Morgana says from the bag, half a head poking out slightly. "you could change you fate and you could change it now."

 

Ryuji grins and Ann mirrors his expression, her eyes alight with hope and a new determination.

 

"Tell us more."

 

**14th April, Thursday - Cloudy -**

_**After School** _

 

_Begin navigation..._

 

. . .

 

The app brings them to the- from what Morgana says; Kamoshida's Palace and Ryuji isn't that surprised when he stands in front of the huge, towering castle, he always has a feeling the bastard's a stuck-up pervert who should have a stick up his ass honestly.

 

Ann expresses her worries when Morgana mentions guards will be prowling around the grounds before their actual dip in the Metaverse, the cat-now not so normal cat with disturbingly huge eyes, assures her he's all the protection they need. Ryuji doesn't feel safe at all with his bullshit and buys himself a model gun, and now that he thinks about it, it probably won't do much against 'Shadows' if he cat wasn't exaggerating. 

 

Ryuji gives himself one point when they were immediately surrounded and the cat defeated by a couple of guards, he gives another point when the gun actually  _fires a flipping bullet, what the hell?!_ and shot one guard down, he pulls one point back when he realizes he's a lousy shooter and gets tackled immediately after.

 

Still, that's one point ahead of the cat.

 

. . .

 

Ann blanches and pulls a disgusted face, trying to back away from where she is being hold down by hulking armored guards. "What-is that-is that supposed to be me?!"

 

Ryuji growls, struggling harder against his own restrainers, "you sick, perv!"

 

. . .

 

**"Maybe I should break both of your legs this time. That way you could only watch her die in front of you."**

 

. . .

 

_**"You made me wait quite a while. You seek power, correct? Then let us form a pact. Since your name has been disgraced already, why not hoist the flag and wreak havoc...? The "other you" who exists within desires it thus...I am thou, thou art I...There is no turning back...The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth!"** _

 

. . .

 

Fight back.

 

**"Wipe 'em, Captain Kidd!"**

 

. . .

 

Ryuji blows a breath through his nose, trying to slow down his heart rate and breathing. He spares an eye at the small gap on the door, pulling his head back and closes the door with an audible click when he hears clanking coming closer. He glances at Ann and watches her fear filled eyes and shaking form under the dim light, her skin is paler than what Ryuji is used to. 

 

"This is bad," Morgana mewls- Mona if they're here apparently, "we should get out of here fast, before they becomes smart and actually check the rooms."

 

He gapes, "what, we've gone this far!" He slams his bare hand on the floor in front of him, "he was right there! we could try to-"

 

"No, we can't" The cat cuts in, eyes matching Ryuji's scowl with a fierce look, "you're tired and so am I, Lady Ann is defenseless. We can't go any further."

 

Ryuji scowls, his protests die when a hand places itself on his shoulder, "He's right, you know that." Ann says, lips frowning and brows scrunching up, "I can't fight, not now, but even if I could, I doubt I could last any longer than you did."

 

"Lady Ann, that's not what I-"

 

"I know, but we can't die here." Ann shots him a look, "Not when we have this chance to stop that bastard."

 

"Fine," Ryuji grounds out, he closes his eyes and tries to feel the power around his chest and summons it. His body burst into blue flames and he feels the comforting weight of the mask and Captain Kidd's laughter rings in his ears, it leaves him a bit breathless and heavy, like there's chains around his body weighing him down. He glances back at the other two, he nods at them and opens the door slightly, "let's go, I'll cover our backs."

 

Morgana nods, "follow me, I know a safe way."

 

. . .

 

_You have returned to the real world, welcome back._

  

**15th April, Friday - Cloudy -**

_**Afternoon**_

 

**VI**

**The Lovers**

 

The second Ann is out of the hospital, she calls Ryuji and tells him to meet up by the vending machines besides the gate and he's better be there before her or he'll know real pain, then speed walking her way to the school, not bothering to apologize for every shoulder she roughly bumped.

 

Morgana is quiet and keeps his usual fidgeting inside her bag to minimum for the whole journey.

 

. . .

 

_Begin Navigation. . ._

 

. . .

 

"You know what?" Ann growls, her head hurts but that doesn't matter, "I'm not some cheap girl you can toy with you scumbag!" She points at Shadow Kamoshida, her other hand raised and shaking with fury. "You stole everything from Shiho," She says and she hears laughter of a mistress of pain, "you destroyed her!" She screams and her ears doesn't hear anything but a buzzing noise and crackles from fire. "Now it's your turn! I will rob you of everything!"

 

. . .

 

_**"My... It's taken far too long. Tell me... Who is going to avenge her if you don't? Forgiving him was never the option... Such is the scream of the other you that dwells within... I am thou, thou art I... We can finally forge a contract... There you go... Nothing can be solved by restraining yourself. Understand? Then I'll gladly lend you my strength."** _

 

. . .

 

No more.

 

**"Dance, Carmen!"**

 

. . .

 

"You okay?"

 

Ann gladly accepts the hand Ryuji offered, now fully aware how her weak her legs feel. "Yeah, a bit winded." She breathes out and leans against him, wrapping her other arm around her body, feeling a bit self-conscious at her thief outfit. "God, I feel like I just ran a marathon, but at the same time I could take on the world." She closes her eyes listens to the whispers of smoke and crackling fire. "Was this what you felt back then?"

 

Ryuji's lips pulls into a grin as he nods, "yeah, you'll feel lousy once we get back to the real world. Nothing but a good night sleep'll fix that." Morgana calls them over to a room. Ryuji half-carries half-guides her to the room and Mona quickly shuts the door.

 

The room is decorated lavishly, furniture with rich, red velvet cushions and dark wooden frames scattered around the large table on the middle of the room. Towering shelves brimming with books fill one part of the room and a gold chandelier lights the room with glinting crystals.

 

Ann blinks, she swears she saw a classroom a second ago, she even still sees a few stray chairs at the edges of her vision, they vanish whenever she tries to focus on them. 

 

After Ryuji settles her to the nearest chair, Morgana immediately launches into an animated chatter about heists and treasures and maps for the Palace. Ann tries to be polite and listens with a half-mind besides it's polite it's also important, but she's too tired and too hyper aware of everything to focus on one word to the other. She settles to nod at Mona whenever he looks at her way, she barely has any care or energy to protest when Mona suggest they should have codenames.

 

"Panther," she says, cutting the other's petty little fight off by accident. "That's my codename."

 

Mona smiles and starts an excited rant about how it fits with her fierce and dangerous personality. Ann just smiles and props her head with a hand, she closes her eyes and lets the chatter lull her into a light doze. She imagines she's with Shiho healthy and free, eating crepes with big smiles on their faces, she looks forward to that day. She opens one eye to watch the boys get into a small debate, she feels a smile creeps up.

 

She guesses they could come and wonders if there's any cat-safe crepes .

 

**16th April, Saturday - Cloudy -**

_**After School** _

 

Ann pockets her phone inside her bag after she sends Ryuji a quick text, she makes her way to the school gate and a small part of her grimaces at extra cat-sized weight. Why can't tomorrow be now? All these heavy lifting is giving her cramps. She's glad Ryuji agrees to take turns to take care of Morgana, after they both did a bit of persuading to Sakamoto-san. That cat can be a handful if he wanted to be, and picky, and nosy, and hairy. Ugh.

She feels her shoulder bumps lightly with someone's and the force sends her bag swinging to their arm, she hears Morgana yowls in pain and then a small pained grunt. She gasps and claps her hand to quickly  apologizes the stranger, "Oh, I'm so-" then her nose smell blood and she sees the darker patch slowing spreading on their sleeve.

 

The stranger mutters an apology and pushes pass her. Her words died before her throat when she failed to stop them, they blended with the crowd effortlessly and disappears from view.

 

She feels Morgana stiffens inside her bag and fidgets, "what happened out there? I swear I smelled bood."

 

Ann blinks, "I don't know."

 

**17th April, Sunday - Clear -**

_**Daytime** _

 

**I**

**The Magician**

 

Morgana keeps reminding himself he's a thief and thieves will need to take risks if they want to get anything done during the entire exchange between Ryuji and the shady older male, the entire shop smells trouble and cigarettes. He may be a thief, but he's a thief with morals.

 

He wriggles himself out of Ryuji's bag and drapes over his shoulder, "do you know him, Ryuji?" He asks, the memory of the stranger still fresh on his mind. He swears he's seen him before and somehow he couldn't pull a clear memory of his face, and that's almost impossible since he knows how good his memory is.

 

Ryuji grunts and absentmindedly tests the weight of the paper bag in his hands, "We met briefly on Monday, what's wrong?"

 

He feels like there's something he needs to do something with that stranger, something very important.

 

Is this connected to his missing memories?

 

"Do you," Morgana starts, his mouth suddenly feels dry, "do you have a feeling like we're missing someone important in the team?"

 

Ryuji turns his head to raise an eyebrow at him, then scrunches both together, "yeah, a leader, which you're kinda suck at it."

 

Morgana bristles and swipes a paw at the teen's cheek, "hey, you try controlling a bullheaded monkey!"

 

The teen growls and tries to yank Morgana out of his bag. Keyword; tries. He's so predictable. Morgana already dodge his attempt and leaps off the bag. He lands nimbly on the ground, licking his paw as he watches Ryuji throws a tanturm in front of him. "Try to keep up!" He sticks a tongue out and darts to where they agreed to meet up with Ann before, he hears Ryuji yelling behind him and then the telltale soles slapping on concrete.

 

That's one quest from Lady Ann done and one fat tuna ready to be in his stomach.

 

**21th April, Wednesday - Cloudy -**

_**After School** _

 

**VI**

**The Lovers**

 

_Begin Navigation. . ._

 

_. . ._

 

"That was-" Ann breathes out, slightly winded but she thinks she could go on for a couple of hours before collapsing. "Easy." Mona warned that road of thought is dangerous, explaining it's their human bodies stressing under the odd environment of the Metaverse. She kicks a stray gold coin to the floating- thingy? and watches it bounces off and drops somewhere with a loud clatter.

 

Mona nods after he gets his excitement under control, "Too easy." He places a paw under his chin, "don't you think this whole heist has been easy?"

 

"Yeah, that's good right?" Skull kicks a pile of coins in front of him, sending pieces of gold bouncing around the room. Mona yelps when one almost hits him in the head. "Man," He grins and stretches his arms, "this whole heist thing is easy, don't know why you're worrying so much before."

 

Mona frowns, "yeah, it's good this thing is easy, but that could mean this whole thing is trap."

 

Skull scoffs and folds his hands leisurely behind his head, "Please, Kamoshida isn't that smart."

 

Ann frowns at Skull, arms crossed across her chest. "Still, we can't underestimate him. Who knows if there's someone else out there."

 

Mona winces and grimaces at the floor, "yeah, there is." He crouches and feels the ground below them, the floor ripples and shifts along his paw before settling down. "There's someone else besides us."

 

. . .

 

_You have returned to the real world, welcome back_

 

. . .

 

Ann flops down on her bed besides Morgana, her phone showing a conversation between Ryuji settled between them. It's supposed to be Ryuji's turn to take Morgana, but his mom's coming home early and he wanted to spend time with her before she crashes from exhaustion. She knows how much his mom meant to him, she feels the same with Shiho.

 

She hasn't visited Shiho for a while now, there's too much going on at the same time. She should when everything settles down.

 

Morgana sits on his haunches, tail flicking back and forth while his head hangs low, deep in thought. Ann glances at the clock besides her bed, it's getting late.

 

She clears her throat, "So," She starts, "wanna tell us the full story?"

 

Morgana sighs and starts with how he woke up with no memory of his life before he found himself inside one of the cells at Kamoshida's Palace, the unknown User who indirectly freed him, then how he had tracked a faint energy to find them at the courtyard. Ryuji makes himself known in the middle of his story by spamming texts on her phone, Ann calls him and puts him on speaker, she tells Ryuji she'll text him a shorter version of the beginning.

 

"It's kinda scary, I just know things and I don't-I don't know where they came from." Morgana confesses and Ryuji is oddly quiet, it's unnerving. "I'm scared I'm-" He shakes his head, "no, I know I'm human. I mean, what kind of cat could talk. I'm gonna get my body back, one way or another."

 

Ann smiles and agrees with Ryuji to promise him to help him.

 

And after she sees Morgana's reaction, she realizes she wants to see that hopeful face on Shiho.

 

And maybe others as well.

 

**22th April, Thursday - Cloudy -**

_**After School** _

Morgana was right, someone else was already ahead of them.

 

Ann pushes through the crowd still surrounding the bulletin covered with red calling cards from one _Phantom Thief of Hearts_ , she finds Ryuji at the corner of the hallway and meets his eyes then at Morgana's slightly panicked gaze. "We need to hurry."

 

. . .

 

_Begin Navigation. . ._

 

. . .

 

**I**

**The Magician**

 

The castle is in high alert, alarms blares from every corner and red lights blink bathed the hallways. Mona finds it suspicious the route has been cleared from any guards, he expected at least some groups running around in panic. He finds the answer when they reached the Treasure room.  

 

"NOOOOOOOO!!!" Mona drops to his knees, the gold clinks below him. It sounded like broken glass falling on the ground, it fits the state of his heart, he thinks. He wistfully stares at the empty air, where they found the Treasure yesterday, "THE TREASURE!!!"

 

He feels Skull shifts behind him, "that's bad, isn't it?" The teen raises his hands in surrender when Mona shots him a heated glare. 

 

Panther frowns, "is there any way we could take it back from the Phantom Thief?"

 

Mona's ears perks up and he jumps from his position, slightly startling the other two occupants. "You're a genius, Panther! The Palace isn't collapsing yet, we still have the chance to steal it back and change Kamoshida's heart!"

 

"Wait-wait, what do you mean collapse?"

 

Then the ground rumbles violently beneath them, the torches flicker and one of the velvet drapes falls to the floor, thegold around them shifts and buries their feet. Skull and Panther screams, limbs flailing to regain balance and Mona stands his ground, fur raised as he feels a familiar surge of power.

 

The other User.

 

"Oi, oi, is the castle going to collapse?!"

 

Panther shots him a panicked look, "Mona, stop staring at the ground. We need to get out of here!"

 

Mone feels his mouth stretches into a grin, "No, not yet, anyway." He doesn't know why he feels this happy, proud is probably a more fitting word. "It's the other User I mentioned before, I think he's fighting Kamoshida."

 

"Huh?" Is Skull's intelligent respond.

 

"Alone?" Panther asks in a slightly worried tone, "what if he loses? Then what happens to the-"

 

The ground rumbles viciously once more, almost knocking them off their feet. More fancy decoration and gold moves or falls to the ground, Mona could literally taste the power in the air and he hears Skull and Panther choke on their breaths. A piercing screech tears through the air and then a loud boom.

 

"We need to go help him." Mona says and darts out of the room, he hears his companions follow closely behind him. "Kamoshida's the king of the castle, he's stronger than all of the Shadows we fought combined." He looks back and watches a pair of determined eyes answer him, "whoever's fighting him-"

 

"The Heart Raiders will help him." Skull finishes with a proud tone and Panther groans along with Mona.

 

"We're not calling ourselves that!"

 

. . .

 

The main hall is wrecked beyond recognition, pieces of marble scatter around the room, one of the grand stairs is destroyed halfway and scorch marks and gouges decorated the floor, the smell of gunpowder still lingers in the air and the storm Mona sensed before now feels like calming waters.

 

They stop in front of Shadow Kamoshida, kneeling on the ground with tears staining his cheeks, defeated and Treasure-less.

 

Skull steps forward menacingly, his metal pipe raised furiously at the fallen king, a snarl on his lips. "Hand over the Treasure, bastard."

 

Shadow Kamoshida weakly lifts his head, face somber despite being held at gun-uh pipe point.  **"You're too late, someone already took it."** He sighs and stands slowly to his feet. **"I know you won't forgive me. Go on, I accept defeat. Kill me."** Skull lowers his weapon and steps back, unsure. **"You do that, my other self will go down too."**

 

Mona hears a flame bursts into life, he turns his head to see Ann with an unreadable face and Carmen floating behind her, twin flames hover menacingly at either side of her head. "Panther-"

 

"You ruined people's lives around you," Panther says, head down and fists clenched. "You Ryuji's pride, you took Shiho's dream." She sharply raises her head, teeth gritted and eyes filled with hatred. "YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM THEM!"

 

Mona sees Ann raising her hand, he makes a move to stop her, "Ann!"

 

Too late, the twin flames shot from Carmen towards the fallen king, the flames passed by Shadow Kamoshida's head harmlessly. She missed by a hair's breadth and Mona knows how terrifyingly accurate Panther is when she's angry.

 

"If you die here," Carmen disappears in a whirl of blue fire and Ann's mask returns. "You can't admit your crimes."

 

Mona looks up to Panther, a proud smile on his lips, he hears Skull breathes a sigh. "You're kind, Lady Ann."

 

The fallen king lifts a hand to take off the crown on his head, he thrusts it to Skull. **"I lost, I'm going to go back to my real self."** He weakly huffs and lowers his head, muttering something about being spared again, **"the other already took the Treasure, this is all I could give you as an apology."** He says, a little clearer this time.

 

Skull growls and raises his hand to slap away the offered gift, "I need your shitty bribe-"

 

 **"A reward then,"** Shadow Kamoshida tosses the crown, Skull clumsily catches it in his hands. **"After your hard work getting this far."** Then he starts to glow, white glimmers float up to the air from his fading body.

 

"Wait," Mona says, "Who took the Treasure?"

 

Shadow Kamoshida raises his head, a somewhat haunted and frightened look on his face. **"A phantom."**

 

. . .

 

The floor shakes violently and pieces of debris start to fall, one chunk of marble missed crushing Skull by a few inches. The castle is collapsing faster than he anticipates.

 

"Mona?!" Lady Ann says, panic clear in her tone.

 

"Yeah," The cat drawls and at some point turns back to his normal-ish cat form. "it's time to run."

 

. . .

 

_You have returned to the real world, welcome back._

 

**23th April, Friday - Cloudy -**

_**After School** _

 

 

**VI**

**The Lovers**

 

Ann looks at the small makeshift buffet served on the unused tables scattered around the roof, they pushed six tables together to create the giant table they surround now, Ann uses on of the spare tables as a seat while Ryuji and Morgana slouches on a chair. She's still couldn't get over on how easy it was to smuggle food to the school's rooftop. "What a waste." Ryuji sighs and bites a chunk out of the burger on his hand. "In the end, we lost the Treasure."

 

Ann looks at the other teen with a slight disgusted look, "ugh, please chew before you talk." She returns the tongue-out with a thumb down. "But, we did get a little bit from those junk we pawned and that crown worth how much again?."

 

Ryuji frowns, shifting his crossed legs under him, "six grand isn't that much to split though."

 

"Cheer up will you?" Ann scolds, then a small fond smile forms on her lips, "I felt like I gained more than I loss."

 

"What, you mean your weight-Ow! That hurt, woman!"

 

Ann scowls at Ryuji, head then turned to Morgana sighing while he licks a paw, tail swishing behind him in a relaxing manner. "So dense as ever." The cat says, a smug on his face.

 

"Shut up."

 

"I mean-" She starts, mouth pressed to a thin line as she gathers her thoughts. "Ryuji, I found my reason to keep fighting for what's right." Her hands clench tightly until her knuckles turn white, "Restraining myself isn't going to get me anywhere," She looks at the other two with fire in her eyes, head raised high and proud, "which is why I'm going to get stronger from now on!"

 

The ex-runner grins back at her, feeling her determination leaking to him, "Yeah, and I guess I found somewhere to belong again."

 

"In a zoo?"

 

"Mona." Ann warns and Morgana shrinks in her gaze.

 

Ryuji laughs, "with you guys, I guess." He says between breaths. "The three of us, together."

 

~~Three, _three, **three,**_ it sounded so wrong in _hishisher_ ears, it makes _hishisher_ heart clench.~~

 

Ann nibbles on her crepe, the ice cream filling is starting to melt, she should start eating faster. "We should make this official."

 

"Huh?"

 

"You know, going to Palaces, stealing hearts, help people." Her voice suddenly goes quieter, but her eyes holds a strong meaning, "Fix this rotten society."

 

Ryuji grins and pumps his fist, "Yeah, yeah! and we could have a hideout or something!" He lets out an excitable laugh and Ann feels her lips forming into a smile. "We'll show those rotten adults what justice means." He turns to Morgana, "You with us, cat? We could find your memories on the way, two birds with one stone."

 

"Of course, since I do know you need an excellent leader, like me example. Also I'm surprised you know that phrase"

 

"You wanna go, cat?"

 

"Hah!" Morgana exclaims and jumps to the table in front of Ryuji. Ann scoots her part of the buffet away from the small scuffle, she scrunches up her nose at the two boys, she could almost literally smell the testosterone and a pinch of macho-ism involved. "I'll kick your ass till the next Palace." The cat declares.

 

"W-why you-"

 

She wants to laugh, she realizes and Ann desperately tries to stifle a giggle brewing in her throat, that sudden, mad, hysterical giggle you had when you finally able to relax after a long week of exams. She lets it out against her will and lets it anyway, so does that makes it under her will? She doesn't even know why she's laughing. Probably the absurdity of the sight of Ryuji picking a fight with a cat, or said cat can talk.

 

Or maybe she finally realizes she has friends besides Shiho, and it's nice.

 

She hears Ryuji joins her, then Morgana, it takes almost everything from her to keep her giggling from exploding to full blown belly laugh. Ryuji doesn't bother to stop his and Morgana curls to the floor, body shaking in laughter, laughing, giggling like madmen. All of them are at this rate.

 

The laughter fades down eventually, and they end up leaning against the table. Ann still has a few giggles left in her. "It's nice," She says between giggles, she breathes out, calming her breathing after the giggle fit settles down. "This is- this is nice." She dusts her skirt and stands up, she raises her hand in front of her, palm downturned. "'Heart Raiders'?"

 

Her hand is joined by a paw and another, rougher hand and she feels her heart swell up, she grins and she wants to show Shiho they could smile more easily now.

 

. . .

 

"I still don't like the name." Morgana says.

 

**2nd May, Monday - Clear -**

_**Morning** _

 

**VII**

**The Chariot**

 

From the back of the crowd, Ryuji watches Kamoshida falls to his knees and admits every shitty thing he'd done with Ann standing besides him. From the day the castle collapse, the two of them have been admitting doubts and saying what ifs, Morgana's reassurance isn't that much of a help. But to see it all works out in the end puts all huge relief in his chest, and spares him the disapointment he's been dreading if Mom ever finds out about his pending expulsion. He turns his head slightly to shot Ann a satisfied grin and she mirrors his expression, he holds out his fist at her. Ann stares at it with a small confuse look before bumping it lightly with her own. He holds out his other fist to-

 

Huh?

 

"Huh?"

 

"What's wrong?" Ann asks and Morgana pops his head slightly out of her bag.

 

There's empty space besides him. There's nothing.

 

"It's nothing."

 

. . .

 

**2nd May, Monday - Clear -**

_**Evening** _

 

**VIII**

**Strength**

 

Justine stands across her sister with the compendium sits heavily in her hands, watching their Master confront the inmate. As time goes, the inmate gain more confidence confronting their Master, the behavior irks her while it aggregates her sister.

 

"This is quite the turn of events," The Master says, hands folded under his chin as he gaze down the inmate, "I am looking forward to this game of ours, Trickster."

 

The inmate leans forward, one arm hanging out while the other propped on the horizontal bar to hold his head, the chains around him jingles and sings the sound of a death march. The inmate smirks, "I could say the same, let's see who'll get checkmate first."

 

Caroline growls and makes a move to hit the cell door with her baton, she stops herself when she sees their Master raises a hand, "There's no need for violence, Caroline." He turns to the inmate, "I do believe you have been here for far too long," The Master grins wider, "I believe you need to wake up."

 

Justine watches the inmate falls backwards as chains wrapped around his body, her eyes meet with grey ones for a brief moment of clarity before the chains roughly pull him down, down, down to the abyss below, leaving a shadow of the inmate, resembling Arsene but at the same time someone else she doesn't recognize, standing idly inside the cell.

 

"Master," She hears her sister asks, "forgive me for doubting, the inmate failed to form bonds with the three others. I do not see why we bother with such person."

 

"Do not worry, Caroline. This simply makes the game much more interesting," The Master waves his hand, "You merely need to wait, time will do tell."

 


End file.
